


Embracing the Shore

by donutsweeper



Category: Baywatch (TV)
Genre: Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:54:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21854071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutsweeper/pseuds/donutsweeper
Summary: Craig and Gina were some of the best people Eddie knew, and as a couple? In his opinion they were practically perfect. It never occurred to him that they might think differently.
Relationships: Eddie Kramer/Craig Pomeroy/Gina Pomeroy
Comments: 9
Kudos: 11
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Embracing the Shore

**Author's Note:**

  * For [phnelt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phnelt/gifts).



Despite what Craig claimed, nothing probably ever would have happened if it hadn't been for the fight.

Well, there was no way to be one hundred percent certain about it or anything, but Eddie was pretty positive that if it hadn't been for the fight and the fact that Gina happened to be out of town that day he wasn't sure the opportunity would have ever presented itself and then the subject would never have had any reason to come up. Eddie certainly wouldn't have ever had the nerve to do anything about it. Craig and Gina... maybe Craig was right and they might have eventually, but not Eddie. It wouldn't even have occurred to him to try.

As it was, the day had started out pretty much like any other. Eddie always liked Wednesdays because the beach tended to be a little less crowded; weekends were, of course, the worst because you had families coming down to give the kids something to do and people finally free from their nine-to-five grind, but he'd come to realize early on that Mondays and Fridays were only slightly less busy since three or four day vacations were pretty common, and people often had Tuesdays and Thursdays free for the same reason. Wednesdays though? Wednesdays were great. No one had Wednesday off unless they were taking the whole week. 

The weather was pretty decent too—not too hot with good visibility and a light breeze—and the water mostly calm. Mitch drove by an hour or so after he'd opened up, but he hadn't had anything much to report on so it was just a typical check in and then he was on his way. The rest of the morning went the way Eddie had expected it to: he walked the beach a few times, told some kids to stop throwing sand, gave directions to the best pizza in the area, and reminded a few folks about the no glass on the beach policy. All in all things were pretty uneventful and he assumed the afternoon would go the same way.

He was wrong. He was so very wrong.

People getting into arguments on the beach wasn't uncommon and there were a million reasons for them to break out. Sometimes it was a matter of having put your towel down in someone's favorite spot, or listening to music too loud, or accidentally dripping water in the wrong place; it didn't matter, some people were just powerkegs, ready to be set off by the littlest of things. Most of the time they didn't amount to anything and someone else, like himself, stepping in was enough to prevent anything from blowing up too much.

Today though, was not one of those times. He had no idea what started it, but when things began getting heated between two big, muscly types whose blankets had been set up right next to the tower Eddie had noticed right away and he tried calling out, "Hey, fellows, keep it calm," which was his typical response when stuff like that started breaking out, but they didn't even notice. He grabbed the buoy off its hook, planning to intervene, but by the time he was halfway down the ramp they'd already gone from just shouting and posturing to shoving. After quickly waving the can high in the air to request some backup he headed their way.

"Come on, break it up, guys, break it up!" he yelled as he approached, just as the fists started flying. Eddie tried getting between them, using the rescue can as an extension of his arm, but they basically ignored it, smacking it out of the way and then one of them planted a hand against his chest and shoved him hard, causing him to lose his balance and stumble backwards for a few steps before falling onto his ass. 

With Eddie out of the way for the moment the two guys started seriously going at it, punches flying. He scrambled back to his feet as soon as he could but not before someone else had joined the fray. Craig arrived out of nowhere and grabbed the first guy, the one who'd pushed Eddie, and was in the process of moving him bodily away from the fight when the second guy let loose a powerful swing and wound up clipping Craig right on the chin. Craig lost his grip on the first guy as his head was thrown back by the blow and he staggered sideways for a step or two before smacking into the edge of the ramp and going down hard.

Mitch arrived then, followed quickly by Garner, and between them and Eddie the fight was broken up pretty easily. Garner got the two in handcuffs and he and Mitch kept ahold of them while he called for a police car to take them away. More guards showed up then, having responded to his backup request; Newmie went straight to the tower to take over the water while Jill cleared the crowd that had gathered to watch the fight.

"Craig!" Eddie shouted, running over to check on him.

Craig had only managed to get himself up onto his knees. He looked up when he heard Eddie call his name and Eddie could see that not only was a huge bruise blossoming on the side of his jaw but his forehead was also bleeding and the spot he'd hit against the ramp was starting to swell. "I'm fine," he said immediately, but he sounded dazed.

"Yeah, I don't think so, buddy," Mitch said as he ambled over. "You've been injured on the job, you know what that means."

"Paperwork," he, Craig and Eddie all said together, "Lots and lots of paperwork."

Offering Craig a hand, Mitch pulled him to his feet and then steadied him until it seemed like he'd be able to stay there. "But don't worry. I'll give Gina a call and have her meet you at the clinic to take you home once you've been checked out."

"She's going to love that," Craig grumbled.

"Love's not the word I'd use, she's going to," Eddie began before he cut himself off. "No, wait. It's Wednesday, right? The fifteenth? Gina's out of town." 

"Oh right. That artist retreat," Craig waggled his hand around randomly and almost lost his balance, "thing. Doesn't matter. I'll be fine."

"Yeah, I don't think so. We can wait to see what the doc says, but…" Mitch gave Craig a long look. "I don't know about you being on your own after taking a knock like that. You can come home with me. The couch isn't the best, but Hobie and I would love to have you."

"Mitch, no. That couch is awful. I want my bed. I'll be fine by myself."

"Craig," Mitch began, but Eddie interrupted him.

"I can stay with him. I mean, I'm there anyway. Sort of. So, why not?" Except, he was renting Craig and Gina's spare room which didn't exactly give him free rein of their place so maybe he shouldn't have assumed…. He turned to Craig. "Unless you'd rather I didn't?"

"No! No, that'd be fine." Craig smiled, sounding really relieved. "Thanks, Eddie."

"Okay. Eddie, I'm putting you in charge of this idiot—"

"Hey!"

"Don't 'hey' me, I've known you for too long, I know exactly how you are when you get hurt or sick. So, Eddie, I'm going to assign someone to your tower for the rest of today and tomorrow and put you on Craig wrangling duties. We'll go to HQ to take care of the paperwork, then I'll drop the two of you off at the clinic. I doubt it's anything serious but I want you there for the official diagnosis and to hear what they tell him for treatment and follow up. After that, take him home and keep him there a full twenty-four hours. Got it?"

"Got it."

It was late afternoon, almost early evening, by the time Eddie stole the keys out of Craig's shaky hands and unlocked the door himself. "I got it, I got it," he said as he all but shoved Craig through the doorway. "Did you want to eat something or lie down first?" Mitch had been right that Craig hadn't been badly hurt, but a concussion, even a minor one, was still enough to take a lot out of someone and it left Craig wobbly and obviously in some pain.

"Bed's good."

Eddie loved Craig and Gina's place. It was bright and colorful but at the same time warm and homey and he wasn't surprised to see the bedroom was more of the same. He awkwardly hovered while Craig fought to shuck off his shoes before stepping in with a, "Sit down, I got it," when it started to look like Craig was going to fall over before managing it himself.

Craig blushed, Eddie assumed he was embarrassed about needing the help, but pulled the sheet back and sat down. "Thanks for this, Eddie, I really didn't want to have to bunk at Mitch's."

"Not a problem," he replied and really meant it. He owed Craig and Gina a lot. If they hadn't given him a place to stay, he had no idea what he would have done or where he'd have ended up. It also didn't hurt that they were also some of the kindest, nicest people he'd ever met. Gorgeous too. Sometimes he could hardly believe they were real.

Shoes and jacket off, Craig lay down throwing the sheet over his legs and sighed, closing his eyes, some of the tension going out of his face. He still looked like he was hurting though.

"Did you want one of those pain pills the doctor prescribed?" Eddie had made sure they stopped and filled the prescription on the way home despite Craig arguing that he didn't need it. 

"Nah, I figure I'll just see how it is without them and if it gets bad enough I can take one tonight." 

"Did you want to change out of your suit?" Eddie had slept in his county suit plenty of times so he knew they weren't the worst thing in the world, but Craig had to have more comfortable stuff to change into.

"Nah, it's fine." Craig cracked an eye open and squinted up at Eddie. "You don't have to hang around. I'm sure you have plenty of other stuff you'd rather be doing."

"I don't mind. Someone's got to be here to wake you in a couple of hours like the doctor recommended and Gina's out of town. Besides, I promised Mitch." Eddie tugged the curtain closed, darkening the room a little more. "Get some sleep. I'll check in on you later."

"Thanks, Eddie." 

Three hours later, Eddie returned to the bedroom, a glass of water and a bottle of pills in hand. He knocked gently on the doorframe. "Craig?" 

When there was no response he poked his head in and called again. And again. It was night now and the bedroom was fairly dark but even with the curtains closed there was enough light coming through the windows from the street that he could see Craig well enough to tell he was deeply asleep. Eddie kind of wanted to let him sleep, but the doctor had been insistent that Craig be checked on every few hours so….

Eddied slipped into the room. "Hey, Craig, you awake?" He put the pills and glass on the side table and reached out, shaking Craig's shoulder gently. "Craig?"

Craig sighed, shifting a little but not opening his eyes. "Five more minutes, Gina."

"No, it's Eddie."

"Eddie," Craig murmured, a soft smile on his face and he blinked sleepily up at him.

"Sorry for waking you."

"S'okay."

"How'ya doing?"

"Fine. Dreaming. It's a nice dream though," he added, reaching out and brushing his knuckles across Eddie's cheek before cupping it.

"Craig!" Reacting instinctively, Eddie reared back and slapped Craig's hand away. "What the hell?"

"Shit, Eddie. Sorry." Fully awake now, Craig sat up quickly, but then grimaced and swayed a bit, cursing under his breath and pressing the heel of his hand against his forehead just to the side of the bandage. "I am so sorry. Ahhh, fuck." 

His anger, surprise, just general What The Fuck reaction from earlier was gone almost immediately. "Hey, hey. Craig, it's okay, come on." Eddie sat down on the edge of the bed, giving Craig some room until he could get himself together.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. You can go. You should go."

"Nope, not happening. I'm not leaving just because you thought I was Gina and you were half asleep and came on to me."

"I didn't, I knew it was you. Eddie—" 

"First off, I can tell you're in pain, so you're taking one of these pills and drinking this water. Then, once the medicine's had a chance to kick in, we can talk." This was new to Eddie, being the one directing others instead of the one being told what to do, but Craig was hurting it was more than just the knock on his head that was bothering him. Eddie figured he could definitely help with the physical pain and maybe he could do something to help with whatever the other problem was too. Even if it turned out he couldn't, he owed it to Craig to at least try.

Shaking a pill out of the bottle he offered it to Craig, clearing his throat loudly when he didn't move to take it. Finally, with one hand still pressed to his head, Craig held the other out and then tossed the pill into his mouth after Eddie dropped it into his palm. The cup took a little more work since his hand was shaking a little and Eddie had to steady the cup until Craig could get a good grip on it, but eventually the pill was swallowed and the water drunk.

The sat in silence for a little while, Eddie trying not to fidget and badger Craig with the millions of questions he had swirling around in his head. Eventually it was Craig who spoke up. "Gina's been wanting for us to talk to you for a while now, I was the one dragging my feet." 

_Dragging his feet?_ Dragging his feet about what? Eddie had to bite his lip to prevent himself for interrupting and let Craig say whatever this was in his own time and just made a kind of 'I'm listening' noise instead.

"We like you, Eddie. We really like you and we think…. Well, we think you like us too. The past couple of months, having you here, they've been great and we'd be fine with letting things continue the way they have been but what if it could be more? I know three people being together is a little different but different can be good, right?" Craig finally ran out of words and looked over at him but whatever he saw on Eddie's face had his smile faltering and then finally falling completely. "It's okay. I understand. You don't have to explain. It doesn't matter if it's because you're not into guys, or I'm too old, or one or both of us is just not your type. It's not a big deal. Let's pretend I didn't say anything and everything can just stay the same."

Eddie had been with men before, women too, but Craig and Gina? The most perfect couple on the planet? The thought of that… Wow. But he had questions though. "You and Gina talked about this?" 

"Yeah, we did. Quite a lot, actually. Bringing someone in when we were already a couple wouldn't be easy and, if you were interested, we didn't want you to feel like a third wheel so we figured we'd try to get some of the problems that might crop up out of the way before they had a chance to become serious issues later on."

"So what you're saying is even if you hadn't gotten hurt we might've had this conversation anyway?"

"Yeah, we would have. Eventually. When Gina was here though," he added with a sigh, "She's better at this kind of thing then I am."

"You didn't think I was Gina earlier when you," Eddie began, flailing a bit with his hand before gesturing to his cheek.

"No, I just kind of forgot we hadn't talked to you about everything yet. Or maybe I wished we already had? Or something. I don't know. I am sorry though, I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that."

"It's okay, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did."

"No, I get it, it's fine."

"No, I don't think you do get it. I'm sorry I hit you and I shouldn't have, but it wasn't because of whatever you're thinking. I was just surprised and kind of, you know, reacted. But now," Eddie added impulsively, "with a little more time to think about it, I kind of wish I'd done this." Then, very quickly, he leaned over and kissed Craig on the cheek in basically the exact spot where Craig had stroked him. 

"Eddie?" Craig sounded like he almost couldn't believe it had happened but was really, really happy it did. "You're sure?"

"Yeah. Well, sure enough I know I want to try anyway. Not tonight though," he added quickly. "You're hurt and this prescription's kind of strong and I think Gina should be here when we— it'd just feel weird if she wasn't here, you know?"

"She'd definitely want to be here." Craig looked like he was going to say something else but instead wound up yawning. He covered his mouth trying to hide it, but it was pointless because he yawned again almost immediately.

"You're beat. Come on, lie back down. We can talk about it in the morning or wait until tomorrow afternoon when Gina's back."

A little grumpily, Craig settled himself back into bed. "Sorry," he said, yawning a third time. "I just can't keep my eyes open."

"It's fine. Go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up, I'm not going anywhere."


End file.
